


There, There

by GhostOfNoah



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew goes ballistic, Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Memory Loss, mental age regression, poor neil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 05:51:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13381506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostOfNoah/pseuds/GhostOfNoah
Summary: Neil raised his arms pathetically and slammed his eyes shut but it did nothing the second Riko’s racquet collided with the side of his head.When he wakes up he has no memory of the last eight years and Andrew isn’t sure this isn’t going to kill him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so I’ve had this idea for awhile and I’m honestly very excited about it. I hope you are too!

Neil sucked in a deep breath that ripped him open on its way down.

“I’d ask you how it feels, but I guess you’ve always known what it’s like to be second, you worthless piece of shit.”

Riko finally dragged his gaze away from the board. He stared at Neil, blank faced and stunned, and then revulsion twisted in his expression into something terrible. His racquet went up over his head but it took Neil a moment to realize Riko really intended to take a swing at him. 

Dan screamed his name from halfway across the court, but there was nothing Neil could do except watch the racquet start down. He barely had the strength to breathe, dodging was out of the question.

It was the flock of Raven’s descending on Kevin that had Andrew turning the other way, his feet slamming down hard on the court floor. 

It was Dan’s scream and Neil’s name on her lips that stopped him. He whipped around, eyes wild, but it took him only a second to find him. Riko stood over him, racquet poised above his head like he was heading to take the biggest home run in recent history. Andrew’s heart hit the bottom of his stomach and he found himself unable to breathe, but he was running before he could even think.

Everything seemed to slow down then. Andrew was dead to everything save the sound of his heart slamming against his chest and his blood rushing in his ears like white noise. Riko only had eyes for Neil and as he swung the racquet down to the side of Neil’s head it wasn’t hard to see Andrew wasn’t going to make it.

Andrew Joseph Minyard had never run for anything so fast in all his life and it still wasn’t enough.

Neil raised his arms pathetically and slammed his eyes shut but it did nothing the second Riko’s racquet collided with the side of his head.

Andrew wasn’t any more than a foot away from Neil when the hot spray of blood hit him in the face. His mouth must have been open because it was all he could taste.

Neil hit the ground in a way that made Andrew think he was going g to be sick then and there. Screams erupted from everywhere now, and the sound of the stadium rushing at him. In between shouts and gasps Andrew could hear people shouting for Neil, but all Andrew could focus on right now was Riko.

Judging by the look on his face he never saw Andrew barreling towards him and he was given an equal amount of time to react to Andrew’s Exy racquet coming down over him. When a tug of resistance refused to allow him his justice Andrew didn’t bother to check who had grabbed the racquet from behind him. Instead he let it go in the same breath and Andrew barrelled right into Riko.

Riko hit the floor with enough force to knock the wind out of him and Andrew didn’t give him the second he needed to catch it. Instead he forced all his weight into Riko’s abdomen. Circumstance allowed for his knees to pin down Riko’s arms and with every ounce of fury he could muster he grabbed the sides of Riko’s head and began to smash it against the court floor like someone would a coconut.

Maybe he should have rushed to Neil instead of Kevin or let Riko off with a good whack, maybe even a broken arm, as it stood with such a public display not even the Moriyama’s could excuse an action like this. But Andrew couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe. For the split second it took him to blink, the image of Neil hitting the court floor replayed against his eyelids, the warmth of Neil’s blood on his face reasserted itself, refusing to be forgotten. Andrew could feel the sides of his mouth carving a horrific grin into his face as blood from Riko’s head began to slip between Andrew’s fingers.

A sick shout bubbled up in Andrew’s throat as he lifted Riko’s head an intended final time before he became aware of the frantic hands grabbing for him. All the sounds of the stadium threatened to deafen him as he thrashed against the multiple bodies pulling him up. He reached for a knife and found himself just as quickly restrained. He could hear sirens and radio static, crying and shouting and maybe worse than all of it, his own screaming. Andrew was never aware he had begun to scream. His breathing was erratic, his teeth clenched to break in between his hoarse screams that tore his throat every time they ripped from his chest.

“Andrew!” someone shouted.

He couldn’t hear them, he wouldn’t hear them. He was feral. His eyes were wild and he thrashed frantically as he was pulled away from Riko.

“Holy shit we have a pulse!”

It wasn’t a voice Andrew knew, and over all the absolute chaos, he shouldn’t have heard it.   
But he did.   
Spit turned to bubbles and froth in the corners of his mouth, Andrew finally managed to break free of his restraints and ducked back through a swarm of bodies where Neil was being buckled onto a stretcher. A team of paramedics were working on his face while another set buckled the straps across his chest and limbs.

_We have a pulse_

The words rang painfully in his head, a dangerous hope.

“Andrew look at me.” Wymack broke in, his voice heavy and thick. Andrew didn’t take his eyes off Neil, his face indistinguishable under a grotesque mask of blood. “Andrew I need you to breathe, and listen to my voice.” He spoke anyway, “He’s alive. He’s not dead. When he wakes up he’s going to need you, so I need you breathe.”

“If someone wants to ride with him we have to go now.” One of the paramedics spoke hastily and in lifting his head from Neil he became suddenly aware of his team mates around him.

Dan and Nicky looked strangely alike in their grief, trembling lips and shaky sobs. Matt held onto Dan, tears of his own while a shaking Aaron held onto Nicky, Kevin behind them his face blank with shock. Renee held onto Allison but kept her eyes on Andrew; ready to move if she had to. Renee, Matt, Dan and Wymack sported new bruises and bleeding wounds likely thanks to Andrew’s fit which snapped his thoughts back to Riko. He turned around quickly to find the Raven but Renee brought him back.

“Go with him,” she urged, “We’ll be right behind you.”

He struggled to keep his thoughts straight, he was sure he could feel his bones literally trembling inside of him and the bile at the back of his throat threatened to drown him but he moved forward with shaking limbs and followed the paramedics out of the stadium and into the ambulance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get two chapters of this out in a day to really get the ball rolling. I’m so happy y’all liked the first chapter. This whole thing is going to be very angsty, so buckle up.

The drive to the hospital was chaotic and loud and numbing all at once. It took everything in Andrew not to acknowledge how he was painted in blood, Riko’s blood. Neil’s blood.

The paramedics didn’t bother to clean the blood off Neil’s pale face they instead focused on the large gash across the side of his head, plastering it with cotton and cloths to stop the bleeding.

They lost his pulse twice.

The first time Andrew was paralyzed and found himself completely unable to breathe.                                             
The second time Andrew near lost his mind and shouted at the paramedics before being warned to calm down.

They made it to the hospital after what Andrew was sure was an eternity and everything moved faster than he could process. The doors to the ambulance ripped open to a waiting group of doctors and the pulled the gurney out of the back. Doctors began listing off stats and numbers quickly “Neil Josten, 19 years old, blunt forced trauma with an Exy racquet, we lost him twice on the ride in...” Andrew tuned out the rest in a focus to keep up with the fast moving group. He jogged down twisting hallways with painted white walls and found himself suddenly alone facing a large set of blue doors.

“He’s going in for surgery so you’ll have to wait in the waiting room, if you’d like we can have a doctor look after you,” a nurse uselessly explained.

Andrew ignored her and turned to the waiting room, where as she said, the Foxes waited for him. All eyes were on him, but he only had eyes for Wymack.  
He stalked over to him and held his hand out wordlessly.

“Andrew..” he started but Andrew turned to leave instead.

There was no way he was getting into this now, and definitely not with Wymack.

“Fine, goddamnit, wait.”

He stopped and turned back to take the pack of cigarettes the older man pulled out for him. Andrew didn’t bother to look at anyone before heading out, cigarette already between his lips.

Andrew didn’t realize how badly his hands were shaking until he tried to light the damn thing. He finally got it on his fourth try and a slew of curses.

The feeling in his chest was enough to drive him insane as he fought to keep his hands straight. Neil had faced Evermore, Baltimore, Lola, Nathan and Riko. Together they made it out. Together they were going to move forward.

_Haven’t we been through enough._  
_Was it honestly too much to hope._

Of course it was.

“Andrew..” the voice beside him was soft and wrapped in an underlying sadness.

He didn’t turn to look at Renee, just took another haul of his cigarette before realizing he’d let it burn down to the filter. He pulled out and lit another one.

“Andrew, Allison and I are going to find a department store to get some things for Neil, would you like anything? Another set of clothes?”

Her words were gentile and hopeful and it pissed Andrew off. There was no way to know Neil would pull through this. He’d died twice on the way in there was no promise he was going to pull through now. Andrew chose instead to keep silent instead of voicing his negative thoughts. Not because he didn’t want to, but because the lump in his throat threatened him.

“Okay..we’ll be back quickly.”

And then he was alone.

He wasn’t sure how long he was alone for, but the pack of cigarettes were empty and he sat there awhile longer before the door beside him flew open with a little more force than he would have liked.

“Andrew,” It was Kevin, “he’s out of surgery.”

And suddenly he was moving. He flew past Kevin and back into the waiting room where a small woman in scrubs waited patiently, her fingers fidgeting.

“Ahh this is who we’re waiting for yes? Then I can begin.” she started, “After six hours we can tell you that the surgery itself was a success.” The relief was palpable, “As to what degree however, we can’t say yet.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Matt snapped.

“Neil sustained some serious trauma to his brain and it bled a little longer than we would have liked. It would have been an open and shut but we didn’t anticipate a stroke.”

Andrew felt the world slip out from under him, and the involuntary shout from Nicky was the cherry on the cake.

“We really won’t know much more until he wakes up.”

“When.” Aaron spoke this time and Andrew was thankful.

The doctor bit her lip, “I’m really very sorry. The stroke coupled with the trauma itself...your friend is in a coma. We can’t say for how long. It might be overnight, a week, a month..”

Andrew wasn’t listening anymore. He didn’t remember leaving the hospital, but suddenly he was outside. The sun had set, the night air cool on his cheeks.

His breath left him in rapid exhales, his nails digging into the flesh of his palms. It wasn’t often Andrew felt himself unable to think. Completely overwhelmed. How was he supposed to deal with this. Neil and him had happened against all odds. He allowed himself to want, to feel, and now he was alone.

He ran.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been before he found himself back at the hospital, breathing heavy and drenched in sweat. The Foxes sat huddled together, the lounge chairs rearranged to accommodate them. Renee and Allison were the only ones missing.

“Christ Andrew,” Wymack jumped to his feet and suddenly all eyes were on him again, “Where the hell have you been?”

“Where’s Renee” he didn’t recognize his own voice. It was rough and cracked, another thing he refused to focus.

“Her and Allison went out to organize flights home and a hotel.” Dan answered.

“I’m not leaving.” the words were out of his mouth faster than he had time to think them up.

“The doctors assured that it would be safe to move Neil back to Palmetto by the end of the week. We have a motel here—“

“I’m. Not. Leaving.” Andrew spat each word, “Where is he.”

“You missed visiting hours, Andrew. Come back to the motel and shower, eat something, they’re not moving Neil.”

Too late again.  
He turned quickly without much thought and punched the wall, his knuckles splitting easily. Everyone was on their feet then, but nobody moved.  
He wordlessly walked to the other side of the room and sat down, the blood from his hand dripping onto the linoleum floor.

Andrew zoned out then, ignoring the goodbyes from the leaving Foxes. Only Aaron, Kevin and Nicky waited with him and they eventually left for supper.

He must have dozed off at some point though it couldn’t have been long because it was Aaron who woke him, the pack of cigarettes he’d thrown landing in Andrew’s lap. His eyes shot open, and his family had moved their chairs to sit around him.

“You should eat something,” his twin instructed, handing him a brown paper bag. Andrew took the bag without thanks and ate quietly.

This was what it became. Moving through the motions. All fire and fight gone from him. Some time later they had left again, and not long after that a nurse had come and told him he could clean up in a shower down the hall. Aaron or Nicky or maybe even Kevin had left him a change of clothes and soon after he found himself back in the waiting room, clean and changed.

The only time Andrew ever left was to smoke. Food was brought to him as were clothes. The Foxes filled him in on the news since everything happened.

Unfortunately he had lived, but was being hospitalized in a private facility. A statement was issued declaring Riko pulled from the team along with a public apology. Andrew didn’t care. He had promised himself that one way or another he would kill Riko.

It became like this. Dreaming and thinking of what if’s, fantasizing about Riko’s death at his hands.

They moved Neil back to Palmetto as promised, Andrew was able to stay with him the whole time and so he did. The large bruise on his face never faded from its menacing purple, a scar healed under his eye from a repaired eye socket. The scar from the initial wound mangled the side of his head, from his temple around the back of his skull. The doctors had the decency to keep it wrapped as it healed and even though his chest rose and fell with his breathing he looked anything but alive.

They placed Neil in a private room, machines whirring and beeping beside him and for the first time in a week Andrew didn’t go with him.


	3. Chapter 3

He wasn't sure what he expected to find outside of the dorms, making his way back alone. But it wasn't a black SUV. At first he ignored it, and kept his eyes on the door to the building but the doors opened, and two suited Japanese men stepped out. The passenger door was closed, but the back door was left open for him. He raised an eyebrow, and his apathy had him climbing into the truck. Both men stayed outside, but inside Ichirou Moriyama waited, his hands in his lap.   
The door was closed for Andrew.   
  
"Dramatic." Andrew said.   
  
Ichirou regarded him for a moment, "I won't drag this out longer than it has to be. I am told the boy lives."  
  
"No thanks to you," Andrew spat. The driver shifted uncofortably in his seat and eyed Andrew carefully in the review mirror. Ichirou said something in quick Japanese and the man settled again.  
  
"Riko did alot of damage with the stunt he pulled and I have a mob war forming that needs to be setteled as soon as can be."  
"The Hatfords," Andrew guessed.  
  
Ichirou nodded, "So. Here's what will happen. Riko will be disposed of quietly, Nathaniel's hospital bills will be handled and when Stuart Hatford comes forward, inevitably, you will tell him it has been handled, and I will handle the rest."  
  
"Riko is mine. Handle whatever you want after, but I'm going to kill him."  
  
Ichirou smiled, not happily "We will be in touch Andrew Minyard."   
  
The door to the SUV was opened and Andrew got out. He didn't watch them leave, instead he continued on his way to his dorm. He moved up the steps agonizingly slow. All he could think about, much to his chagrin, was how when he got up there Neil wouldn't be there. Not in the kitchen rummaging for something to drink, not in the bathroom drying off from a shower, not in their beanbag chair and not in their bed.   
  
He opened the door roughly, and made a beeline for his bedroom, refusing to look anywhere else. He couldn't. His bed was unmade, and when he laid down, his pillow was cold. Andrew's exhaustion caught up with him all at once and before he knew it he was asleep.   
It was the slam of the dorm door that had him bolting upright in his bed. The room was dark, where sunlight had lit it before. Andrew frowned, but before he could get out of bed, his door was the next to be opened.   
  
"Andrew, Jesus Christ," Nicky breathed heavily, "Since when do you not answer your phone?"  
  
"Where's Neil?" his voice was rough, and it caught him off guard.   
  
"He's at the hospital, Andrew we have to go."  
  
Andrew reached for his cellphone, while he got down from his bed. The small screen on the surface flashed with a tiny envelope. He flipped it open.   
Twenty two missed calls and eighty-three text messages.   
His heart stopped.  
  
"What. Happened."

"There was a brain bleed? Or a stroke? God Andrew, I don't know it happened so quick but he's in surgery again" He was breathing erratically now, and tears slipped down his cheeks "We've been looking for you for hours, we have to go."  
  
Too many emotions were ripping through him now, and every time he tried to focus, tried to think it was like screaming in his ears. He could barely control his tremors as he threw himself in the car, lighting a cigarette as Nicky drove.  
They must have broken at least five laws driving to the hospital, and Nicky pulled up to the emergency doors so Andrew could get out right away. He had planned to go straight to the front desk, but didn't anticipate Wymack being there.   
  
"Christ alive Minyard, where in hell have you been?"  
  
"Where is he." Andrew ignored him.   
  
"He's still in surgery, we're waiting." he sighed  
  
"What happened."   
  
"It was a brain hemmorage. A brain bleed. They took him into surgery right away."  
  
Andrew grabbed fistfuls of his hair and fought to keep himself together when he could feel himself being so easily torn apart.   
  
"We just have to wait now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea how to end this so I'm sorry if this is garbage LMAO  
> I'm also sorry this took so long. I should be on a regular updating schedule now, so thank you all for your patience.


	4. Chapter 4

Three months, two weeks and four days.  
   
When Neil came out of surgery almost four months ago the Foxes visited every day, taking turns at the hospital in case he woke up. But when the school year started up again, the group found themselves torn between their late night vigils and their grades. When Wymack told the team they'd have to start up practice again, with a new striker, Andrew quit then and there. Later that afternoon he dropped out of school much against everyone's pleas.   
The feeling inside him was grey and dangerous. He couldn't feel a thing. One more than one occasion Andrew got mind numbingly drunk and stood on the edge of the roof, yearning to feel anything.   
  
He stopped answering his phone and after a few weeks even Renee stopped calling. He found himself in the hospital sporadically.   
Sometime's he'd visit for hours at a time, and other time's he'd simply walk past the room.   
  
It was November when Andrew decided this was a day he'd walk past the room. The hospital was quiet for once, and Andrew steeled himself in preparation for the image of Neil laying on his back, dead to the world. Turning to look into the room, Andrew nearly threw up when he found the room empty.   
He ran over to the bed, where fresh sheets were set up. All the gifts and flowers were cleared away like he'd never been there. Without hesitation, Andrew ran to the nurses station, practically throwing himself against the Plexiglas.  
  
"Neil. Neil Josten, where is he."  
  
The nurse drew her brows together, noting Andrew's rudeness before she turned to her computer. Her nails clicked against the keys quickly before she turned back to Andrew who was visibly impatient.   
  
"Are you his emergency contact?" she asked, bored.  
  
"Yes. Andrew Minyard, where is he."  
  
Her eyes flitted back to the screen, "Pediatric therapy."  
  
 _Pediatric?_  
  
"Why wasn't I informed?" he spat through clenched teeth.  
  
"Mr.Minyard it says here we called half a dozen times in the last week. Nobody came to claim him."  
  
His heart dropped to his stomach and his legs began to shake.   
  
Neil had been awake for a week and nobody knew. Everyone had been too busy, and Andrew had shut himself off from the world preemptively.   
  
"I need to see him."  
  
The nurse nodded, "That's fine sir. I will notify his therapist that you've requested visitation. In the meanwhile I'm going to need your ID to fill out the appropriate paperwork."  
  
"No." Andrew shook his head, his heart racing, "I need to see him now."  
  
The nurse nodded in mock sympathies, "I understand that sir, but since nobody was here to claim him the state was forced to take guardianship due to his mental state,"  
  
Andrew didn't wait to hear the rest. He broke into a run.   
  
He ran out of the hospital, down the street and the three miles it took him to get to the Foxhole Court. Rage was coursing through him so fiercly he couldn't think.  
Drenched in his own sweat now, he barrled down the stairs once he was in the stadium and nearly kicked the door down in the locker room.   
Nicky yelped and everyone turned to face him panting in the doorway.  
  
"Why didn't anyone go see him?" he all but yelled.  
  
The team was stunned, the two rookies completely lost.   
  
"Andrew.." Renee stood up, "Is Neil okay?"  
  
"He's been awake for a week." the shock swept through the room, even Aaron looked guilty, "He's been awake and alone for a week and nobody went to see him."  
  
"Oh my god." it was Dan's turn to speak, "Oh my god is he okay?"  
  
"No," Andrew spat at her, "And fuck you for asking. Stay away from him."   
  
He ignored the calls for him, and made his exit from the Foxhole Court.   
Nobody followed him.   
  
He made his way back to the dorms where he still stayed despite no longer being a student. When someone on campus asked for his name, he gave them Aaron's and no other questions were asked.   
  
Andrew shuffled through his belongings and turned to leave when he found his wallet.   
  
Standing in the doorway, a well dressed man stood in a suit black as midnight.   
  
"I've been looking for you Andrew Minyard." he spoke, his accent thick.   
  
"Stuart Hatford." Andrew deduced, "I don't have time for you right now."  
  
"No," he nodded, looking around the room he closed the door, "But you're going to make time." Stuart Hatford looked Andrew up and down, unimpressed, "I hear you've left my nephew to rot in your American hospital."  
  
The accusation made Andrew feel sick to his stomach, "You don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Don't I?" he looked at Andrew finally, "I've been keeping a close eye on him since he was brought here. Did you know that when he woke up, at four o'clock in the morning alone mind you, he screamed and cried for anyone? He was in such a frenzy he had to be sedated?" Stuart shook his head, tucking his hands into his dress pants pockets, "Did you also know, and this is the kicker, that the trauma was so severe that he has no memories past the age of ten? It's true," he sighed, seeing Andrew go pale, "He cried and cried for Mary and nobody was there."  
  
"Stop it." Andrew hissed, a lump growing in his throat. He'd never felt the urge or need to cry, but this was more painful than it had any right to be. He'd abandoned Neil, and if Stuart was telling the truth Neil wouldn't even remember him.   
  
"Yes well.", a sharp ding went off in Stuarts pocket though he ignored it, "I have to go Mr.Minyard. I've spoken to Ichirou Moriyama and I have his blessing to take Neil back to London to receive treatment." he raised his hand up swiftly to stop Andrew who looked ready to pounce, "However. I have other business to attend to just now. So, I will leave and you will stay with Nathaniel. You will look after him as you should have, and when I return I will make my final decision. Is that understood?"  
  
Andrew didn't have to think about it, he just nodded, for once at a loss for words.   
  
"Well then," Stuart sighed, "I will leave you. Don't disappoint me again, Andrew Minyard."  
  
Andrew stood in the living room, digging his nails into the palm of his hand. When he was sure Stuart was long gone, he grabbed Nicky's car keys and headed down into the parking lot.

He was going to see Neil, completely unaware of just how unprepared he would be for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took 746 years to update! Hope it was worth the wait!


	5. Chapter 5

He drove to the hospital so quickly he was actually surprised the police hadn't stopped him. Andrew parked the car haphazardly and jogged into the building and back to the nurses station. The nurse recognized him right away, and accepted the cards he threw at her. She tapped at her keys annoyingly, looking up and down from the cards in her hand to the screen where she put in the required information.

"If you'll take a seat in the waiting room sir, I'll have the doctor come and get you when he's ready.", she handed him back the cards through the hole in the glass. 

Andrew shoved the cards back into his wallet and with great strength carried himself into the waiting room, where much to his surprise, The Foxes sat huddled together. Matt was the first one to see him walk in and he stood up, his face etched with worry. 

"Did you see him?"

The rest of the team looked up at him, all of them hanging by a thread. Unfortunately for everyone, Andrew was in no mood to deal with any one or any thing. The only thing that consumed his mind was Neil and guilt for leaving him as long as he did. Stuart's impromptu visit not an hour earlier didn't help. 

"I told you not to come." Andrew glared at them all, "You didn't bother to come before, I don't see why you're bothering now."

"Andrew..." Renee started carefully. 

"If he was awake for a week why weren't you here?" Aaron asked the question nobody else wanted to, "You dropped off the team, you dropped out of school for what? Andrew, nobody thought you weren't coming here."

It was enough to drive him mad. Aaron, Stuart, Ichirou, Riko, all of it.   
Andrew was hanging onto a thread that wasn't there. His anger reaching a boiling point, Andrew reached for his knives, and everyone was suddenly on their feet yelling. Kevin pushed Aaron out of the way, Allison and Matt shielding him. Renee and Dan moved around him, grabbing his arms before he could do any damage he'd regret. 

"You need to get him out of my face right now or so help me god I'll put you in the ground with your mother."

Allison and Matt didn't wait around to see if he he meant it or not. Aaron muttered something under his breath as he was ushered out. 

"Uhm", a throat cleared from the doorway behind Andrew and Renee and Dan dropped his arms, "Andrew Minyard?"

Andrew turned around, finding himself face to face with a tall man, dressed in a suit with an open lab coat. 

"Yes?" 

The doctor pulled out his clip board, "I'm Doctor Iscariot, Neil's doctor. I uh, hope your behavior will be more contained when dealing with him." he chanced a glance at Dan and Renee before looking back at Andrew, "If you'll follow me, there are some things we need to talk about before I can let you see him."

Andrew nodded and followed the Doctor back through the doors and down a zig zag of corridors. 

"So," he started, "As you're aware Neil suffered some pretty serious brain trauma, not without complications. Scans revealed some pretty serious damage to his brain, I'll save you the fancy doctor terms here, resulting in memory loss and as far as we can tell age regression. To Neil Bill Clinton is president and it is 1997. He believe's he is ten years old."

The room halls spun as Andrew struggled to keep up, his entire world was collapsing around him and he had no idea how to stop it. 

"To my understanding, Neil had one nightmare of a childhood," the doctor continued, "so we're working through that right now. He was told two days ago his parents are dead, and while the death of his father didn't seem to impact him at all, he hasn't taken the death of his mother very well."

Andrew nodded, his mind straining to take everything in, searching in his mind for anything Neil might have told him, that would help him now.

"Kevin." he blurted, "Kevin Day. They met when Neil was ten. Does he know him."

Doctor Iscariot turned back just to nod at him before stopping at a door with butterflies plastered to the door, "Yes. We ran through all of your names with him and the only people he remembered was Kevin Day and," he looked down at his chart, "Riko Moriyama but we can't get in touch with him."

"And you won't." Andrew told him seriously. The man nodded to that before turning back to the door. 

"He's in here." he told Andrew, "What ever you're prepared for I promise it isn't this so whatever you're feeling keep it to yourself and be gentle with him. Neil is the priority here, not whatever you may be feeling."

"Let me see him." was all Andrew said in return.

The Doctor nodded and pushed through the door. The walls were painted a disgusting yellow with stickers plastered to them. Toys littered the floor, and colorful furniture mostly hosted children and their parents here for visitation. It wasn't hard to find Neil. He was dressed in hospital issued sweats, and sat by himself at a small table at the back of the room, colouring in a badly used book. 

"Hello Nathaniel," the Doctor greeted him with a smile, and Neil looked up. His head was still bruised and bandaged, but the swelling had gone down considerably, "I brought a friend for you today. This is Andrew."

Andrew took a look at him and thought he was going to throw up. His eyes were empty, looking up at Andrew like he was a stranger. He was a stranger. Neil's frame was everything it had been when they met; a scared child ready to run. 

"Hi Andrew," he spoke meekly, "I'm Nathaniel."


End file.
